Guber Elections: Fear in Akwa Ibom As ‘Obidients’ Plan ‘Pay Back’ Against PDP

Before, the slogan “Akwa Ibom is PDP, PDP is Akwa Ibom” was widely used by Governor Udom Emmanuel and other PDP supporters in the state.

From the start of democratic governance in 1999, the PDP has not only remained in power in Akwa Ibom state, but has also been able to provide presidential candidates in the state even when its candidates failed at the national level in 2015, 2019, and 2023.

The All Progressives Congress, APC, was the state’s main opposition party but was unable to give the PDP a good battle, with some of the party’s governorship candidates failing polls in their wards.

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The entrance of a third force, the Young Progressives Party, YPP, has upset the status quo in the Akwa Ibom political landscape, as the gubernatorial candidate, Senator Bassey Akpan, who was a PDP bigwig until his defection, has attracted a lot of supporters, particularly among the state’s youngsters.

The rumored combination of the APC governorship campaign apparatus with that of the YPP to form a powerful force capable of giving Gov. Udom Emmanuel’s PDP a bloody nose in the March 11 elections has been a major source of concern for the PDP.

Before the PDP primary, both the YPP’s Bassey Albert and the APC’s Obong Akanimo Udofia were staunch PDP members, but sensing the impossibility of gaining the party’s ticket, they ran to alternative political parties, where they clinched the various tickets.

On their journey to the polls, the two had come across a number of studs. Senator Akpan was sentenced to prison nearly nine years ago for accepting exotic car presents from a contractor, Jide Omokore, while he was a Commissioner, a case that is currently pending at the Appeal Court.

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Akanimo Udofia was hauled to court on his own by one of the party’s hopefuls, Senator Ita Enang, who claimed that Udofia contested in APC while a member of the PDP and petitioned the court to annul the election; the issue is currently before the Supreme Court.

It was learned that Senator Godswill Akpabio, who has long been at odds with his godson, Gov. Udom Emmanuel, is purportedly engineering the merger so that Senator Akpan, who was his then-Commissioner, would triumph over PDP’s Pastor Umo Eno in the March 11 elections.

But Senator Ita Enang in a statement entitled “Beware of imposters using non-existing Akwa Ibom APC governorship ticket for negotiation,” chided the whole arrangement, saying that APC does not have a guber candidate in the first place.

“It has been brought to the attention of Senator Ita Enang Governorship Campaign Organization that individuals purporting to represent the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State are negotiating to surrender their ambition and campaign structure to another opposition party in the state,” read the statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Uduak Ikpat.

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“They have promised to surrender the non-existing ticket, collapse their structure and mobilise support and votes for the other political party ahead of the March 11, 2023 governorship election.

“We are not against anyone negotiating for personal interest but we have to remind the public that as at today, March 4, 2023, the APC in Akwa Ibom State is yet to have a governorship candidate. This can be verified on the INEC website.

“Anyone planning to merge his campaign organisation with another, does so as a person, and not as a governorship candidate, since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to fill in a governorship candidate for APC in Akwa Ibom State.

“The fraudulently conducted APC governorship primaries birthed a legal tussle which is still subject to litigation in the court of competent jurisdiction.”

However, Mr Borono Bassey, the State PDP Spokesman, characterized such a coalition as a simple scheme that would not prevent the PDP’s nominee from winning the governorship seat on Saturday.

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He emphasized that the PDP is not endangered by such an alliance since it is still the party to beat in Akwa Ibom.

Even if the merger never materialized, last Saturday’s ceremony at the ‘OBA event centre’ where the “Obidients” formally expressed their support for the YPP governorship candidate should force the PDP to rethink how to garner more votes from the Akwa Ibom people.

The YPP received a major boost from the Obidients’ backing, which encouraged the party to go head-to-head with the PDP in the next five days.

The Obi/Datti Movement is a collaboration of over 100 support groups spread across Akwa Ibom State’s 4,354 polling units.

Though the groups claimed in a statement signed by their leaders, Otoabasi Asuquo and Engr Otoabasi Ntiah, that their decision to support the YPP’s guber candidate was based on his competence, character, compassion, and capacity, it is clear that they were doing so out of vengeance against the governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, the leader of the PDP in the state who has been accused of denying Mr Peter Obi, the Labour Party’

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The organization further claimed that because Senator Akpan of the YPP supported their chief, Mr Obi, during the presidential election and delivered his local government for him, they would return the favor by mobilizing Obi/Datti structures in all polling units for him.

“YPP deserves all the support from the Obidient movement in Akwa Ibom state because they showed us so much love by standing with the Obidient Mobilizers to deliver our principal Mr Peter Obi in the 4,354 polling units in Akwa Ibom state. In life, one good turn deserves another! Even when our people voted for Peter Obi, the PDP manipulated the results to ensure that Obi, our own in-law, lost in Akwa Ibom,” the statement issued by the Obidients read in parts.

However, Reverend Richard Peters, the Special Adviser to governor Udom Emmanuel on Media and diehard defender of the PDP governorship candidate, Pastor Umo Eno in an interview said the YPP’s guber candidate was “just looking for survival. He wants to come under the umbrella of Obidients to bury his dubious character”.

He stated that the Obidients, who are known as advocates of uprightness and honesty, would not profane their ideology by rallying around a man who, in his opinion, had been convicted of a crime by a court of competent jurisdiction.

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According to him, “The ideology behind the Obi/Datti movement was borne out of passion to lead, so if the Obidients are aligning with a criminal, that means the aim of the movement has been defeated.

“It is very unfortunate that one man who has shown a high level of dishonesty in public office would be endorsed by groups who were seen as impeccable, it is sad and disastrous.”

He added that the PDP was not intimidated by the endorsement, adding: “we are gathering support and I’m convinced that PDP will win by landslide.
Every political party has its own campaign strategy; the PDP is returning to the grassroots.”

Also addressing, Dr Harry Udoh, Chairman of the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Akwa Ibom State, stated that Obidients have the right to vote for anybody they choose in the March 11 elections.

He stated that Obidients and other residents of the state can express their dissatisfaction with the outcome of the presidential election in the state by voting with their thumbs against anyone or any party that stole their mandate.

“A lot of results we have seen from Akwa Ibom state showed that HE Peter Obi won overwhelmingly in the state. We saw videos showing how the ruling party changed the results. Some of us had the opportunity to discuss with some of the adhoc staff, they attested to that, that the ruling party upturned the result, so for me it’s ok for the Obidients’ to take their supports to wherever they want, you cannot steal peoples’ votes and come and do anything of benefit to them.

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“The voters have the power and the power is in their thumbs and they have the right to put it wherever they want and that is why I’m calling on the INEC to ensure that there will not be a repeat of February 25. People will show their anger with their thumbs on March 11,” he said.

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